Relay apparatus, system and method, and storage medium

ABSTRACT

A system enables information transmission between a server which serves information by its own communication format and a client which receives service on a general network, with an efficient and simple structure. A conversion server  101  receives a video transmission request message from a client  103  in the HTTP protocol, the conversion server  101  converts the message into a message of a format of a server  102 , and transmits the converted message to the server  102 . Then, the conversion server  101  returns video data transferred from the server  102  to the client  103  in the HTTP protocol.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a relay apparatus, system and methodand storage medium, and more particularly, to a relay apparatus, systemand method and storage medium for information services by a server on anetwork to a client.

With high-speed and wide area Internet and Intranet environment, networkapplication programs (application programs which run on a computernetwork as a platform), which conventionally handled only text data,handle multimedia data such as video and audio data having morecomplicated structure and requiring a larger capacity.

In this progress, the assignee of the present invention has proposed anetwork application program for providing a user with a video imageobtained by a video recorder or video camera as a still image or movingimage from a server program located at a remote place via a network.

Hereinafter, the above network application program will be referred toas a “video delivery system”.

On the other hand, as World Wide Web browsers (hereinafter simplyreferred to as “Web browsers” or “browsers”) such as Netscape Navigator(by Netscape Communications Corporation) and Internet Explorer (byMicrosoft Corporation) became popular, the computer network, that hasbeen utilized as conventional communication means only for E-mail, newsservice and FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and the like, is developing asthe field of more various activities such as collection of informationand cooperative shopping.

Accordingly, the Web browsers have been improved so as to provide notonly multimedia information display but also a general user interfacefor various purposes. The introduction of HTML (Hypertext MarkupLanguage), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), JavaScript, Java and thelike and rapid improvement of their functions show this tendency.

The above-described development of the Web browsers has produced a needto utilize a video delivery system in the Web system by a Web browser.

However, the video delivery system proposed by the present assigneemerely uses a special-purpose client application program (referred to asa “video display client”). The special-purpose video display client isstarted from a Web browser. Accordingly, it is not integrated with theWeb browser.

Further, it is possible to seemingly incorporate the above video displayclient in the Web browser by using a technique such as Plug-in module.However, the video display client is still an independent program in theWeb browser, therefore, the high freedom of design owned by the Webbrowser cannot be utilized. From a home page designer's standpoint, evenlook & feel and user interface of the video client should be changed inaccordance with his/her preference or purpose. However, this need is notsatisfied.

From the above-described situation, there is a need for a video displayclient integrated with a Web browser, which can be used by a Web-browserextensible language such as Java (by Sun Microsystems, Inc.) orJavaScript, or generated by using such language.

However, to satisfy this requirement, it is necessary to solve thefollowing problems:

1. Absorption of difference between communication methods

2. Prevention of reduction in execution efficiency

3. Absorption of difference in video delivery format

Hereinbelow, these problems will be described.

1. Absorption of Difference between Communication Methods

The basic operation of a Web browser is to transfer a file acquisitionrequest message to a Web server, and to display data received as a replyto the request, on the premise that the data is sent in 1:1correspondence with the request from the Web browser (client). Further,the Web browser must establish a communication path (hereinafterreferred to as a “connection”) for each request to the Web server.

In the video delivery system, a server and a client first establish aconnection therebetween, and then video information is transmitted in aone-way manner from the server. To remove this difference between thesetwo communication methods as above, means for mediating from onecommunication method to the other communication method is required.

2. Prevention of Reduction in Execution Efficiency

If the video display client (Web-version video client) is integratedwith a Web browser, the execution efficiency of the video displayfunction and other functions will be reduced in comparison with thespecial-purpose video display client.

In use of the special-purpose video client, it is possible to specifythe client in correspondence with the target data structure and a videodelivery protocol and to optimize the operation of the client for thepurpose. On the other hand, in use of the Web-version client, generaldata processing and data display functions provided by the Web browsermust be used. Nevertheless, the Web-version client will be utilized bymore users than those of the special-purpose client, since the users canuse the Web-version client without labor of download and installationand therefore the Web-version client can be easily used in comparisonwith the special-purpose client. However, the Web-version client withlow performance might lose the reputation of the video delivery system.For this reason, means for preventing the reduction in executionefficiency must be introduced.

3. Absorption of Difference in Video Delivery Format

Preferably, the above requirements 1 and 2 should be satisfied asrequirements to the Web-version video client, and further, theWeb-version video client should be independent of specific videodelivery system and video delivery method. In the Web-version videoclient using Java or JavaScript, as a viewer (a video display portion)is realized as a common user interface on the Web browser, videoinformation should be displayed regardless of the difference in type ofserver (video server) which delivers the video image, as normal imagedata can be displayed regardless of its data format such as GIF andJPEG. To meet this requirement, it is necessary to provide means forabsorbing the difference in video delivery format.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been made in consideration of the abovesituation, and has its object to provide a relay apparatus, system andmethod and storage medium to solve the all or at least one of the aboveproblems and enable information transmission between a server whichserves information in its own communication format and a client whichuses the information service on a general network, with an efficient andsimple construction.

The foregoing object is attained by providing a relay apparatus fortransferring information from at least one server to at least one clientvia a network, the server performing stream information service in itsown information transmission format, the apparatus comprising: firstcommunication means for performing communication with the client in acommunication method in correspondence with the client; secondcommunication means for performing communication with the server in acommunication method in correspondence with the server; first conversionmeans for converting a request message to the server, received via thefirst communication means from the client, to a request message for theserver; and second conversion means for converting information, receivedvia the second communication means from the server, to information in aformat for the client.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate thesame name or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and,together with the description, serve to explain the principles of theinvention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the construction of a system accordingto a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the connection relation ofapparatuses in the system of the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram explaining the operation of session startingprocessing according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram explaining the operation of sessionterminating processing according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram explaining the operation of video acquisitionprocessing according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the construction of the systemaccording to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the sessionstarting processing according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the session terminatingprocessing according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the operation of the video acquisitionprocessing according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing the connection relation of theapparatuses in the system according to the second embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinbelow, embodiments of the present invention will now be describedin detail in accordance with the accompanying drawings.

First, prior to description of the details, the outline of embodimentswill be described.

In the embodiments, the above-described three problems are solved bypreparing the following function means:

substitutional execution means for executing a function of aspecial-purpose client;

efficiency promotion means for efficiently enabling the substitutionalexecution means; and

delivery-method switching & execution means in correspondence withplural types of video delivery methods.

The above means will be described in detail below.

Substitutional Execution Means

The substitutional execution means includes messagetransmission/reception means for transmitting/receiving a message fromanother program, message interpretation means for interpreting themessage, and connection management means for managing connection with aclient.

Efficiency Promotion Means

The efficiency promotion means includes video delivery means fordelivering video data obtained from a video server to a plurality ofclients, and information delivery means for delivering variousinformation such as server status obtained from a video server to aplurality of clients.

Delivery-method Switching & Execution Means

The delivery method switching & execution means includes delivery-methodswitching means for switching the method for transmitting a requestmessage and a reply in accordance with the video server, anddelivery-method execution means for executing issuance of a requestmessage and a reply in accordance with a video server.

First Embodiment

Hereinbelow, an example to realize the above respective means will bedescribed as a first embodiment.

note that in the present embodiment, the respective elements arerealized as a server program independent of the video server and videoclient. The independent server program (a program which runs on a serverdevice) will be referred to as a “conversion server”.

First, the outline of the operation of the conversion server will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 2. Video servers 201 to 203 areprograms which operate on, e.g., a general-purpose device such as apersonal computer. Each general-purpose device is connected to a storagedevice containing video information and a video camera for obtaining alive video image. If the video information is required, the serverdelivers video information onto a network 207. Further, video clients204 to 206 operate on a device such as a personal computer. Each videoclient is started by a user, then functions as a client, receives videodata and displays the video data.

In the video delivery system which has been proposed by the presentassignee, the video server and the video client perform communicationvia the network 207 to perform services. For example, when the videoclient 204 makes a connection with the video server 201 and transmits avideo acquisition request message, the video server 201 startstransmission of video data to the video client 204. The video client 204displays the received video data on a display or the like.

In the present embodiment, a conversion server 208 is provided betweenthe video servers and the video clients. The conversion server 208converts video data transmitted from the video servers 201 to 203 viathe network 207 into an HTTP message (HTTP is described in detailed inRFC (Request For Comments)1945) then transmits the message to all or anyof the video clients 204 to 206.

The basic operation of the present embodiment using the conversionserver 208 is as follows.

First, the video acquisition request from the video client 204 istransmitted to the conversion server 208 in place of the video server201. The video acquisition request is transmitted in HTTP messageformat. The conversion server 208 converts the HTTP message into amessage of a format unique to the video server 201. The converted videoacquisition request message is transferred to the video server 201, andthe video server 201 performs processing in accordance with the request.For example, if the video server is “VDOLive”, the video server startsto output a video stream, or if the video server is “WebView/Livescope”(a trademark by Canon Kabushiki Kaisha), the video server transmitsvideo data for only one frame.

The result of processing by the video server is transmitted in the dataformat of Motion JPEG, MPEG or the like, to the conversion server 208.The conversion server 208 converts the video data into an HTTP messageand sends the message to the video client 204. Note that the conversionto HTTP is made by adding information on data type, data size, date andthe like to the original data.

Next, the respective elements of the conversion server will be describedwith reference to FIG. 1.

In FIG. 1, programs, which function as the conversion server, the videoserver and the video client, operate on three computers 101 to 103. Thecomputers 101 to 103 are interconnected via a network 104 and canmutually transmit/receive a message. FIG. 1 only shows one video clientand one video server, however, actually, a plurality of video clientsand video servers are used as shown in FIG. 2. Further, the number ofthe video servers and that of the video clients do not pose anylimitation on the present invention.

The computer 101 is provided with a secondary storage device such as ahard disk 108 for storing various program files of the conversionserver. Further, the computer 101 includes a CPU 105 for actuallyperforming the processing by the conversion server and a main memory 107for holding an execution image (a program code and various data andtable and the like used in the conversion) by the conversion server 109.The CPU 105 and the main memory 107 are connected via a bus 106.

A conversion server 109 consists of a group of software modules asfollows. Note that “software module” means a set of data, a series ofprocedures and a group of functions generated by a program language suchas C and C++. The software module has a function or procedure as aninterface for cooperation with another software module. The interfacingfunction or procedure is referred to as an “entry point” here. To callanother module, it is necessary to somehow obtain the memory address ofthe entry point of the module to be called. Generally, the addressinformation of an entry point can be obtained upon compilation orlinkage time.

The Software Modules

a message transceiver 110

a message interpreter 111

a client session manager 112

a server information manager 113

Further, the conversion server 109 includes a processing module 114corresponding to the type of a specific video server to communicate withthe conversion server 109. Although FIG. 2 shows only one processingmodule 114, however, actually, a plurality of processing modules forplurality of servers may be provided.

The processing module 114 performs processing regarding thecommunication method or message format unique to the specific videoserver to communicate with the conversion server 109. The processingmodule 114 further includes the following submodules:

a server session manager 115

an information deliverer 116

a video deliverer 117

a message transceiver 118 for the specific server

Next, the outline of the modules and submodules 110 to 118 will bedescribed.

Message Transceiver 110

The message transceiver 110 provides other module and submodule withmeans for receiving a message transmitted from the video server 102 andthe video client 103 via the network 104. Further, the messagetransceiver 110 provides other module and submodule with means fortransmitting a reply message or the like to the video server 102 and thevideo client 103.

The message transceiver is realized by utilizing a general interprocesscommunication protocol, TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) or UDP (UserDatagram Protocol) or the like using a socket or the like. Note thatsome type of video server requires a specific communication method orprotocol such as RTP (Realtime Transfer Protocol). For such videoserver, a message transceiver 118 for the server is added to theprocessing module 114, and the function of the message transceiver 118is utilized. The message transceiver 110 is used for communication withthe video client 103 or communication with a video server which does notrequire a specific communication method.

Note that the present Web browser performs communication based on theHTTP protocol on the TCP protocol, however, a different communicationmethod might be employed in the future. In such case, a “messagetransceiver” for a specific video client in correspondence with the typeof the client can be prepared. The message transceiver for the clientcan be realized and controlled in the same way as that for the messagetransceiver for the server.

Message Interpreter 111

The message interpreter 111 interprets various messages (hereinafterreferred to as “requests” or “request messages”) transmitted from avideo client and instructs other modules to perform correspondingprocessing. Each request message includes a message ID to discriminatethe request type. The messages interpreted by the message interpreter111 are:

a session start request

a session termination request

a video acquisition request

an information acquisition request

The respective requests will be described later.

Client Session Manager 112

The client session manager 112 provides means for “absorbing differencebetween communication methods” as described above. More specifically,for obtaining correspondence between connection with the video client103, disconnected for each communication, and connection with the videoserver 102, maintained by the end of service, the client session manager112 allots a unique ID number to each video client upon the firstconnection establishment between the video client and the conversionserver. Thereafter, when the video client sends a request to theconversion server 101, the ID number (connection ID) is added to therequest. By this arrangement, even though the connection between thevideo client and the video server is disconnected for eachcommunication, the correspondence between the video server thattransmits video data and the video client that receives the video datacan be maintained. The connection ID can be regarded as virtualconnection which continues between the video client 103 and theconversion server 101. This virtual connection will be called a“session”.

The above processing can be easily realized by managing thecorrespondence between the connection ID's and corresponding videoservers in the form of a table.

Server Information Manager 113

The server information manager 113 is a module to manage entry points tothe processing module(s) 114. For example, regarding a session startrequest from the video client 103, the server information manager 113searches for an entry point of a necessary processing module for aspecific server, with the type information of the specific video serveradded to the request as a key. Thus, the obtained processing moduletakes over the control, to execute actual processing such as sessionstarting processing.

The above processing by the server information manager 113 can berealized by using a table containing entry points to processing modulesas its values, with video-server type information (for example, acharacter string such as “WebView/Livescope Ver1.10”) as a key.

Further, in a case where the conversion server is realized on an OSproviding dynamic link means, the processing modules may be provided asfiles apart from the conversion server, and necessary processingmodule(s) may be automatically read when starting the conversion server.The server information manager 113 also has this function. Note thatthis processing is not essential in the present invention. In thepresent embodiment, the conversion server includes necessary processingmodule(s) in advance.

Server Session Manager 115

When the conversion server 109 receives a session start request and asession termination request from the video client 103, the serversession manager 115 generates session-start and session-terminationrequest messages unique to the video server (102 in FIG. 1), and executesession starting processing and session terminating processing to startand terminate the session with the video server.

Note that the server session manager 115 establishes only one connection(hereinafter the connection with the video server will be referred to asa “server session”) even if a plurality of video clients send a sessionstart request to the same video server. When the server session manager115 receives a session start request, it first checks whether or not arequested server session with a corresponding video server has beenestablished already. If the server session has not been established yet,the server session manager 115 newly establishes a server session withthe video server.

Note that if video transfer requests to one video server are receivedfrom a plurality of clients, the conversion server perform mediation andtransmit video data from the video server to the respective clients.

Video Deliverer 117

When the video deliverer 117 receives a video acquisition request fromthe video client 103, it issues a video acquisition request for thevideo server 102, and obtains latest video data from the video server102. Note that if the video server periodically transmits videoinformation, the video deliverer 117 obtains latest video data withoutissuing video acquisition request.

The obtained video data is stored in a video buffer in the videodeliverer 117. Regarding video acquisition requests from a plurality ofvideo clients “approximately simultaneously received” by the conversionserver 109, the video data in the video buffer can be transmitted to thevideo clients. In this manner, the number of communications with thevideo server can be reduced, and the execution efficiency can beimproved.

Note that to process the “approximately simultaneously received” videoacquisition requests,

(1) requests arrived within a predetermined period are regarded assimultaneously arrived requests; or

(2) all the requests arrived from the start to the end of videoacquisition request processing are regarded as simultaneously arrivedrequests. In the present embodiment, a client that issues a videoacquisition request at the highest speed is used as a reference client.In this method, during a period between the point where the client 1issues a video acquisition request (request 1) to the point where theclient 1 issues the next video acquisition request (request 2), videoacquisition requests sent from other clients are regarded as“approximately simultaneously received”, and video data in the videobuffer obtained from the video server by the request 1 is transmitted tothe clients.

Information Deliverer 116

The video server, proposed by the present assignee, to serve videoimages obtained by a camera provides means for obtaining not only videodata but also information on the status of the video server orinformation on the network 104. The video client obtains necessaryinformation by issuing an information acquisition request to the videoserver.

Further, some type of video servers have a function to automaticallynotify their server status even if the video client does not issue anyrequest. For example, the server WebView/Livescope for operation of aremote video camera, automatically notifies every change in thedirection and zooming of the camera to all the video clients. As theserver information or notification information is common to theplurality of video clients, buffering similar to that of video data isperformed.

The information deliverer 116 performs acquisition of server informationand notification information from a video server and delivery processingby buffering. Especially, regarding a video server having a notificationfunction, information once stored in the buffer is effective until a newchange is notified from the video server. In this case, informationrequests from the video clients, received during a period from a pointwhere the server information is stored into the buffer to a point wherenew server information is stored into the buffer, can be processed veryquickly without inquiring of the server.

Message Transceiver 118

The message transceiver 118 is a transmission/reception module for aspecific server. The message transceiver 118 has the same has a functionsimilar to that of the server message transceiver 110. Further, if theprocessing module 114 does not require a transmission/reception modulefor a specific server, the message transceiver 118 is realized as amodule to call the function of the server message transceiver 110.

Next, a communication protocol between the video client 103 and theconversion server 109 will be briefly described. the video client 103transmits the following requests to the conversion server 109 to causethe conversion server to perform necessary processing.

Session operation

OpenCameraServer

CloseCameraServer

Image acquisition

GetLiveImage

Information acquisition

GetNotice

GetVideoInfo

Camera operation

OperateCamera

GetCameraControl

GetCameraInfo

The respective requests are based on the HTTP 1.0. protocol theserequests are transmitted as GET commands generated from URL (UniversalResource Locator) format data to be described later to the conversionserver. (Note that the HTTP 1.0 protocol, URL's, and the conversion froma URL to a GET command are explained in detail in the RFC 1945).

In the present embodiment, the HTTP protocol is not necessarily used asa protocol between the video client and the video server, but a specificmessage method or protocol may be used. However, in such case, the videoclient might not be realized by a general function of the Web viewer. Inuse of FTP, SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) and the like, the aboveproblem does not occur, therefore, these protocols can be employed forthe HTTP protocol. In this case, necessary processing can also berealized by the following method. Hereinbelow, the purpose of therespective requests and URL formats of the requests, and the formats ofreplies to the requests will be given.

OpenCameraServer

[Purpose] To start session with a video server [Format]

http://<host name of conversion server>:<port number>/OpenCameraServer?

vc_host=<host name of video server>&

vc_host=<port number of video server>&

server_type=<type of video server>

If information on the video server is necessary besides the aboveinformation (host name of video server, port number and type of videoserver), arbitrary information in the following format may be added.

<name of additional information>=<value of additional information>

EXAMPLE

cc_host=<host name of camera control server>

[Reply] If processing was successful, a connection ID is returned to thevideo client in the following format.

HTTP/1.0 200 OK

<additional information such as data type, date and data size>

connection_id=<connection ID>

CloseCameraServer

[Purpose] To terminate session with a video server.

[Format]

http://<host name of conversion server>:<port number>/CloseCameraServer?

connection_id=<connection ID>

[Reply] If processing was successful, a character string “OK” isreturned.

GetLiveImage

[Purpose] To request acquisition of video data.

[Format]

http://<host name of conversion server>:<port number>/GetLiveImage?

connection_id=<connection ID>&

frame_count=<number of frames>

At frame_count, an integer “1” or greater is set. The client can receivevideo data for the designated number of frames.

[Reply] Video data for the designated number (set at frame_count) isreturned. Note that the format of reply in a case where the number offrames is “1” is somewhat different from that in a case where the numberof frames is “2” since video data for two or more frames is transmittedby the Serverpush format (described in detail in the RFC 1945).

A. In a case where the number of frames is “1”

HTTP/1.0 200 OK

<additional information such as data type, date and data size>

<video information>

B. In a case where the number of frames is “2” or greater

HTTP/1.0 200 OK

<additional information such as data type, date and data size>

Content-type:multipart/x-mixed

replace;boundary=JointServerImage——JointServerImage

Content-Length:<data length for 1 frame>

Content-type:<data type for 1 frame>

<video information for 1 frame>

——JointServerImage

. . .

. . .

——JointServerImage——

GetNotice

[Purpose] To obtain content of latest notification from video server.

[Format]

http://<host name of conversion server>:<port number>/GetNotice?

commenction_id=<connection ID>

[Reply] Only if the video server as the destination of server sessionhas a function to automatically transmit a notification message, a replyin the following format can be obtained.

HTTP/1.0 200 OK

<additional information such as data type, date and data size>

. . .

<name of information>=<value of information>

. . .

For example, in case of WebView/Livescope, as the change in thedirection of a video camera is notified from the video server, thefollowing reply can be obtained:

HTTP/1.0 200 OK

. . .

pan=<horizontal direction of video camera>

tilt=<vertical direction of video camera>

zoom=<zooming>

The information obtained as above differs depending on the type of videoserver.

GetvideoInfo

[Purpose] To obtain video related information

[Format]

http://<host name of conversion server>:<port number>/GetVideoInfo?

connection_id=<connection ID>

[Reply] Although the type of information differs depending on the typeof video server, information in the following format is returned.

HTTP/1.0 200 OK

<additional information such as data type, date and data size>

. . .

<name of information>=<value of information>

. . .

In a general video server, the following information can be obtained:

image_width=<lateral length of video data>

image_height=<vertical length of video data>

compression_type=<compression method for video data>

frame_rate=<frame rate>

GetCameraInfo

[Purpose] To obtain video-camera related information.

[Format]

http://<host name of conversion server>:<port number>/GetCameraInfo?

connection_id=<connection ID>

[Reply] Only if the video server can remote-operate a video camera, areply in the following format can be obtained.

HTTP/1.0 200 OK

<additional information such as data type, date and data size>

. . .

<name of information>=<value of information>

. . .

For example, in case of WebView/Livescope, as the change in thedirection of a video camera is notified from a video server, thefollowing reply can be obtained.

HTTP/1.0 200 OK

. . .

pan_left_limit=<operation limit in leftward direction>

pan_right_limit=<operation limit in rightward direction>

pan_current_value=<current position in horizontal direction>

tilt_up_limit=<limit in upward direction>

tilt_down_limit=<limit in downward direction>

tilt_current_value=<current position in vertical direction>

zoom_wide_limit=<limit of zooming>

zoom_tele_limit=<limit of zooming>

zoom_current_value=<zoom current value>

GetCameraControl

[Purpose] To request camera control right.

[Format]

http://<host name of conversion server>:<port number>/GetCameraControl?

connection_id=<connection ID>

[Reply] Only if the video server can remote-operate a video camera, acharacter string OK can be received.

OperateCamera

[Purpose] To request video camera operation.

[Format]

http://<host name of conversion server>:<port number>/OperateCamera?

connection_id=<connection ID>&

pan=<designation of horizontal direction>&

tilt=<designation of vertical direction>&

zoom=<designation of zooming>

[Reply] Only if the video server can remote-operate a video camera, acharacter string “OK” can be received.

Next, the flow from the start to the end of session between the videoclient and the conversion server by using the above-described requestswill be described. The flow divides into the following five phases.

1. Start of session

2. Acquisition of video data

3. Acquisition of information

4. Camera operation

5. Termination of session

Note that the “camera operation” phase is available only in a sessionwith a camera-operating video server such as WebView/Livescope.

1. Start of Session

When the video client transmits the OpenCameraServer request to theconversion server, a session with the video server starts. As a reply tothe OpenCameraServer request, a connection ID allotted to the videoclient is returned. The connection ID is used in all the subsequentrequests.

2. Acquisition of Video Data

When the video client transmits the GetLiveImage request to theconversion server, the video client can obtain video data as a reply tothe request.

3. Acquisition of Information

When the video client transmits the GetVideoInfo request to theconversion server, the video client can obtain information on videosize, frame rate and the like, as a reply to the request.

4. Camera Operation

Camera operation is made by the following procedure. First, the videoclient requests a camera operation right by the GetCameraControlrequest. If the video client obtains the camera operation right, thevideo client sends the OperateCamera request to the conversion server,and operates the camera.

Note that the camera operation right, i.e., a right to change a cameraangle (pan angle, tilt angle, zooming and the like) is owned by only oneclient for each camera (except a case where a plurality of cameras areconnected to a video server). The camera operation right is provided inseveral methods already proposed by the present assignee. In thisembodiment, the operation right is provided to a first-connected clientfor a predetermined period, prior to other clients.

5. Termination of Session

When the video client transmits the CloseCameraServer request to theconversion server, the conversion server terminates the session with thevideo server used by the client, and invalidates the connection ID. Toobtain video data again, the video client must issue theOpenCameraServer request again to establish connection.

Next, the operations of the respective elements in the basic operationof the conversion server will be described.

1. Start of Session

First, the session starting processing will be described with referenceto FIG. 3 showing the concept of operation and the flowchart of FIG. 7.

When a video client 303 transmits the session start request(OpenCameraServer, 319) and a message transceiver 310 receives therequest (step S701), the received request is transferred to a messageinterpreter 311 (step S702). The message interpreter 311 extracts amessage ID from the transferred session start request 320 (step S703).

The message ID in the present embodiment is a request name portion of arequest except a parameter portion. In the session start request, themessage ID is the character string “OpenCameraServer”. The messageinterpreter 311 compares a group of messages pre-stored in a hard diskor the like with the received message name, and determines what requesthas been transmitted. As a result, if the request is not a session startrequest (step S704), processing with respect to another request isperformed (step S705).

If the received request is a session start request (step S704), thetype, host name and port number of server, added as parameters to thesession start request are extracted from the request. If additionalinformation unique to a specific video server is added to the request,that portion is also extracted as a pair of parameter name and value(step S706).

Next, the message interpreter 311 issues a session start instruction (orcommand) (321) to a client session manager 312 (step S707). Theextracted parameters are added to the session start instruction. Thesession start instruction (321) is realized by a message in anobject-oriented language such as C++.

The client session manager 312 receives the session start instruction(321), then first allots a connection ID to the video client 303 (stepS708). The connection ID is an integer “1” or greater, and the value ofthe connection ID is incremented for each allotment (other methods maybe employed as long as a unique ID is allotted to each client). Theallotted connection ID is transmitted via the message transceiver 310 tothe video client (step S709). Further, the client session manager 312issues a processing module acquisition instruction (322) to the serverinformation manager 313 (step S710).

The server information manager 313 searches a table pre-stored in astorage device for a processing module for the server (302 in FIG. 3),with the server type information added to the processing-moduleacquisition instruction (322) as a key (step S711). The entry point ofthe processing module obtained as a result of search is notified as areply (323) to the processing-module acquisition instruction to theclient session manager 312.

Next, the client session manager 312 issues an instruction to establisha session with the server (server session start instruction, 324) viathe entry point of the obtained processing module 314 to a serversession manager 315 (step S712). The server session manager 315 receivesthe server session formation instruction (324), extracts the host name,the port number of the server and other specific additional informationadded to the instruction (324), searches its internal management tablewith these information as keys, and checks whether or not a session withthe server has been established already. If the session has beenestablished (step S713), the server session manager 315 returns theaddress of the session (more exactly, data structure representing thesession) to the client session manager 312. The client session manager312 adds the obtained session information to the entry in the managementtable obtained with the connection ID as the key (step S714).

Further, if the session has not been established yet (step S713), theserver session manager 315 executes server-session starting processingincluding establishment of connection with the video server 302 (stepS715) and transmission of a session start request message (327) to thevideo server 302 (step S716), by using the server message transceiver316. When the session with the video server 302 is started, theinformation on the session (mainly including information necessary forcommunication with the video server such as socket) is collected andserver session information is generated, and the information is returnedto the client session manager 312. The client session manager 312 addsthe received session information to the entry with the connection ID asthe key in the internal management table.

Then, the session starting processing ends.

2. Termination of Session

Next, the session termination processing will be described withreference to FIGS. 4 and 8.

When a video client 403 issues a session termination request(CloseCameraServer, 419), and a message transceiver 410 receives therequest (step S801), the received request is transferred to a messageinterpreter 411 (step S802). The message interpreter 411 extracts amessage ID from the transferred session termination request (420). Themessage interpreter 411 compares the message name with the message namesof the respective requests, and determines what request has beentransmitted (step S803). As a result, if the received request is not asession termination request (step S804), processing with respect toanother request is performed (step S805).

If the received request is a session termination request (step S804), aconnection ID added as a parameter to the session termination request isextracted (step S806).

Next, the message interpreter 411 issues a session terminationinstruction (421) to a client session manager 412 (step S807). Theclient session manager 412 receives the instruction (421), and extractssession information from its own management table with the connection IDas a key (step S808). Then, the client session manager 412 deletes theentry from the management table (step S809).

Then, the client session manager 412 examines how many entries withconnection ID's having the value of the session information extracted atstep S808 are registered in the management table (step S810). Theexamination may be made by counting the number of registered entries ofthe same session information by searching the table values, or bymanaging a reference count with server session information. In any case,if the session information other than the deleted entry with theconnection ID (step S811) are referred to, the client session manager412 notifies the video client (403) of the completion of the sessiontermination processing by using the message transceiver 410 (step S815)since further processing is not necessary.

Further, if the session information is not shared by other videoclient(s) (step S811), the client session manager 412 issues aserver-session termination instruction (422) to a server session manager415 (step S812). The server session manager 415 performs server-sessiontermination processing including transmission of a session terminationrequest (425) to a video server 402 (step S813) via a transceiver 416for the video server 402. Finally, the server session manager 415disconnects the connection with the video server 402, and notifies thevideo client 403 of the completion of the processing (step S815).

Thus, the session termination processing is completed.

3. Acquisition of Video Data

Next, video acquisition processing will be described with reference toFIGS. 5 and 9.

When a video client 503 issues a video acquisition request(GetLiveImage, 519), and a message transceiver 510 receives the request(step S901), the received request is transferred to a messageinterpreter 511 (step S902). The message interpreter 511 extracts amessage ID from the transferred video acquisition request (510) (stepS903). The message interpreter 511 compares the message name withmessage names of the respective requests to check what request has beentransmitted (step S903). As a result, if the received request is not avideo acquisition request (step S904), processing with respect toanother processing is performed (step S905).

If the received request is a video acquisition request (step S904), aconnection ID added as a parameter to the request is extracted (stepS906). Next, the message interpreter 511 issues a video acquisitioninstruction (521) to a client session manager 512 (step S907). Theclient session manager 512 receives the instruction (521), and extractsserver session information from its management table with the connectionID as a key (step S908). Further, the client session manager 512transfers the video acquisition instruction (522) to a video deliverer517 (step S909).

The video deliverer 517 first examines its video data buffer managed bythe video deliver 517 itself to determine whether or not the latestvideo data is held there. In the present embodiment, sequential numbersare allotted to the respective video data for the above examination.That is, each time video data is registered in the buffer, a number isallotted to the data. Further, the number of referred video data ismanaged for each video client with session information in the managementtable of the client session manager 512. If video data with a numbergreater than that of video data last referred to for the client isregistered in the buffer, the video image can be regarded as the latestvideo image.

If it is determined as a result of the examination of the buffer thatthe content of the buffer is the latest video image (step S910), thevideo deliverer 517 returns the video data in the buffer to the videoclient 503 via the message transceiver 510 (step S914). If the numberallotted to the video data in the buffer is the same as that of the lastreferred video data, it is determined that the content of the buffer isnot the latest (step S910). Then, the video deliverer 517 performs videoacquisition processing including sending a video acquisition request 525to a video server 502 via a message transceiver 516 for the video server502 (step S911). When the latest video data is obtained from the videoserver 502 (step S912), the video deliverer 517 rewritten the content ofthe buffer with the new video data (step S913), and returns the videodata in the buffer via the message transceiver 510 to the video client503 (step S914).

Thus, the video acquisition processing is completed. In the presentembodiment, a number is allotted to the video data, and further, thenumber of video data last referred to for each client is stored. By thisarrangement, regarding a client which operates at the highest speed, asthe number of video data in the buffer coincides with that of lastreferred video data, the video data in the buffer is updated. That is,the video data in the buffer is updated by the fastest client. Further,regarding other slower clients, as the number of last referred videodata is less than that of video data in the buffer, the video data inthe buffer is returned to those clients.

4. Acquisition of Information

Information acquisition processing is realized by performing processing,similar to the video acquisition processing by the video deliverer inFIG. 5, by an information deliverer. Similar to the management of videodata, the latest information is managed in a buffer of the informationdeliverer, so that the number of communications with a video server canbe reduced.

5. Camera Operation

In the internal processing in the conversion server, to operate acamera, a request (camera operation request) is transmitted andinformation on the status of the camera is returned. Therefore, thecamera operation can be handled by the same method as that for theinformation acquisition.

As described above, the conversion server of the present inventionincludes:

a message transceiver between a video client and a video server

a message transceiver for a specific video server

a client session manager for managing connection with a video client

a video deliverer for obtaining video data from a video server anddelivering the video data to a plurality of video client

an information deliverer for obtaining various information from a videoserver and delivering the information to a plurality of video clients

a server information manager for changing a method for issuing a requestmessage and a reply in accordance with a video server

a server session manager for executing issuance of a request message anda reply in correspondence with a video server

Accordingly, the present embodiment utilizing the HTTP protocol as aprotocol between a conversion server and the video client provides videoservice to even a video client protected by a fire-wall system in anetwork.

Further, in the present embodiment, by utilizing the HTTP GET commandsin a protocol between the conversion server and the video client, avideo client can obtain and display video data without extending a Webbrowser.

Second Embodiment

Next, a second embodiment will be described as an example where thegroup of substitutional execution means and the group of efficiencyimprovement means in the above first embodiment are realized as a serverindependent of the group of switching means. More specifically, theprocessing module for a specific server in the same server program inthe first embodiment is realized as a server program independent of theconversion server. This server as the processing module will be referredto as a “subconversion server”.

First, the operation of the second embodiment will be described withreference to FIG. 10. In FIG. 10, video servers 1001 to 1003 and videoclients 1004 to 1006 are interconnected via a network 1007, similar tothe video servers and video clients in FIG. 2. However, the secondembodiment provides a plurality of conversion servers 1008 to 1010, anda plurality of subconversion servers 1011 to 1013, respectivelyconnected to the network 1007. The video clients 1004 to 1006 performcommunication with the conversion servers 1008 to 1010, and the videoservers 1001 to 1003 establish sessions with the subconversion servers1011 to 1013.

In the second embodiment, even though the plurality of conversionservers are provided, the subconversion servers may be provided incorrespondence with the types of video servers. For example, in a casewhere the subconversion server 1011 for the video server 1001 operates,the subconversion server 1011 can be commonly used by the conversionservers 1008 to 1010 for communication with the video server 1001.Further, as the video client can use any of the conversion servers 1008to 1010, the video client can select the most convenient conversionserver in correspondence with the status of the network 1007 and thelike.

Next, the respective elements of the second embodiment will be describedwith reference to FIG. 6. In FIG. 6, the CPU and the main memory in FIG.1 are omitted, however, the elements of the present embodiment operateon a computer (including a general-purpose device such as a personalcomputer), therefore, description will be made on the premise that aCPU, a main memory, a bus, a secondary storage device such as a harddisk are also provided in the present embodiment. Further, FIG. 6 onlyshows one video client 603 and one video server 602 connected via anetwork 620, however, actually, a plurality of video clients and videoservers are connected to the network 620, as described in FIG. 1.

The respective elements of the second embodiment divide into aconversion server 604 and a subconversion server 605. The number ofthese servers may be increased as shown in FIG. 10.

First, the conversion server 604 has the following modules:

a message transceiver 606

a message interpreter 607

a client session manager 608

a server information manager 609

a data base interface 610

The modules 606 to 609 play the same roles and perform the sameoperations as those of the corresponding modules in FIG. 1. The database interface 610 added to the construction of the present embodimentis a relational data base to utilize the function of a data-basemanagement system 601. Note that the data base is of any type in thepresent embodiment.

For example, the second embodiment can be realized by using anobject-oriented data base as the data-base management system 601. In theclient session manager and the server information manager of the firstembodiment, the management of connection ID or the like is realized byusing an internal table. On the other hand, data management and searchfunctions of the second embodiment are provided by the data-basemanagement system 601.

Further, the server manager of the first embodiment manages entry pointsto processing modules for specific servers, while the server manager 609of the second embodiment manages information such as host names, portnumbers and sockets necessary for communication with the subconversionserver.

Next, the subconversion server 605 will be described. The subconversionserver 605 comprises the following modules:

a message transceiver 611

a server session manager 612

a message transceiver 613 for a specific server

an information deliverer 614

a video deliverer 615

a data base interface 616

The modules 612 to 615 play the same roles and perform the sameoperations as those of the corresponding modules in FIG. 1. Further, themessage transceiver 611 is mainly used for communication with theconversion server 604. The message transceiver 611 has a functionsimilar to that of the message transceiver 606 in the conversion server604. Further, the subconversion server 605 has a data base interface616. The contents of the buffers in the video deliverer and informationdeliverer are managed by the data-base management system 601, and sharedby the plurality of subconversion servers and conversion servers.

As described above, many of the respective elements of the secondembodiment have the same functions and the perform almost the sameoperations as those of the corresponding elements of the firstembodiment.

Accordingly, only the difference in operation from the first embodimentwill be described below.

1. Information managed by a table in the first embodiment is managed bya data base. Registration, deletion and search of data are executed byissuing a command to the data base interface.

2. A part of instruction executed within the conversion server istransmitted/received as a request message via the network.

More specifically, such parts of instruction are as follows.

The session generation instruction (324) and the reply to theinstruction in FIG. 3.

The session termination instruction (422) and the reply to theinstruction in FIG. 4.

The video acquisition instruction (522) and the replay to theinstruction in FIG. 5.

In the above-described second embodiment, the conversion server provides

a message transceiver between a video client and a video server

a message transceiver for a specific server

a client session manager for management of connection with a the videoclient

a server information manager for switching the method of issuing arequest message and a reply in accordance with a video server.

Further, the subconversion server provides

a video deliverer to obtain video data from a video server and deliverthe data to a plurality of video clients

an information deliverer to obtain various information from a videoserver and deliver the information to a plurality of video clients

a server session manager for execution of issuance of a request messageand a reply in accordance with a video server.

Further, to realize the above respective modules by using the data-basemanagement module, a data base interface is added to the conversionserver and the subconversion server.

According to the second embodiment,

1) as the conversion server and the subconversion server are provided,even if a video server of a new type is added, the new video server canbe utilized from all the conversion servers and video clients only byoperating one subconversion server corresponding to the video server;and

2) as the data management is made by utilizing the database managementsystem, various information and obtained video data are shared among theconversion servers and subconversion servers. By this arrangement, evenif a trouble occurs to some conversion server or subconversion server,another server can operate for the server with the trouble.

As described above, according to the first and second embodiments, aremote video delivery system to serve a moving or still video image to acomputer at a remote place via a computer network, provides

message transmission/reception means for transmitting/receiving amessage from another program

message interpretation means for interpreting the message

connection management means for managing connection with a client

video delivery means for delivering obtained video data to a pluralityof clients

information delivery means for delivering obtained various informationto a plurality of clients

delivery method switching means for switching the method for issuing arequest message and a reply in accordance with a video server

delivery method execution means for executing issuance of a requestmessage and a reply in accordance with a video server.

Accordingly, the system has the following advantages.

1) The difference in communication format between the video deliverysystem and the World Wide Web system can be absorbed.

2) The reduction in execution efficiency due to integration of the videoclient and a Web browser can be prevented.

3) The difference in video delivery method for each video server can beabsorbed, and a general-purpose video client can be realized.

Note that as described above, in the first and second embodiments, theconversion server and the subconversion server require hardware forconnection with the network, however, these servers can be realized byprograms which run on general-purpose devices such as personalcomputers.

Accordingly, the object of the present invention can be also achieved byproviding a storage medium storing program codes for performing theaforesaid processes to a system or an apparatus, reading the programcodes with a computer (e.g., CPU, MPU) of the system or apparatus fromthe storage medium, then executing the program.

In this case, the program codes read from the storage medium realize thefunctions according to the embodiments, and the storage medium storingthe program codes constitutes the invention.

Further, the storage medium, such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, anoptical disk, a magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD-R, a magnetic tape, anon-volatile type memory card, and ROM can be used for providing theprogram codes.

Furthermore, besides aforesaid functions according to the aboveembodiments are realized by executing the program codes which are readby a computer, the present invention includes a case where an OS(operating system) or the like working on the computer performs a partor entire processes in accordance with designations of the program codesand realizes functions according to the above embodiments.

Furthermore, the present invention also includes a case where, after theprogram codes read from the storage medium are written in a functionexpansion card which is inserted into the computer or in a memoryprovided in a function expansion unit which is connected to thecomputer, CPU or the like contained in the function expansion card orunit performs a part or entire process in accordance with designationsof the program codes and realizes functions of the above embodiments.

Further, the stream information service of the present invention isapplicable to any realtime information service handling operation data,audio data and the like.

As described above, according to the present invention, informationtransmission can be performed between a server which serves informationby its own communication format and a client which receives service on ageneral network, with an efficient and simple construction.

As many apparently widely different embodiments of the present inventioncan be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it isto be understood that the invention is not limited to the specificembodiments thereof except as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A relay apparatus for delivering video streaminformation from a server to a plurality of clients via a network, saidapparatus comprising: message reception means for receiving a videorequest message from a first client; message interpretation means forinterpreting a video request message received by said message receptionmeans; connection management means for managing connection with thefirst client; video delivering means for delivering obtained videostream to the first client which has requested the video request;information delivering means for delivering information interpreted bysaid message interpretation means to the server; and a buffer unit forstoring video stream information received from the server, wherein saidvideo delivering means delivers video stream information stored in saidbuffer unit to the first client without starting a new connectionbetween the first client and the server in case that another connectionbetween a second client different from the first client and the serverhas been established.
 2. A relay apparatus for delivering video streamdata from a server to clients via a network, comprising: a connectionmanagement device adapted to establish a connection to a server inresponse to a request from a first client, and to deliver video streamdata to the first client, and a memory control device adapted to storethe video stream data from the server in a memory, wherein saidconnection management device delivers the video stream data stored insaid memory to the first client without starting a new connectionbetween the first client and the server, in case that a connectionbetween a second client different from the first client and the serverhas been established.
 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein thememory holds the latest video data as video stream data.
 4. Theapparatus according to claim 2, wherein video stream data is obtained byan image pickup apparatus connected to the server.
 5. The apparatusaccording to claim 2, wherein a protocol between said relay apparatusand the clients is HTTP.
 6. The apparatus according to claim 2, whereinsaid connection management device converts a first format of videostream data from the server to a second format for the clients.
 7. Arelaying method to deliver video stream data from a server to clientsvia a network, comprising: establishing a connection between a firstclient and the server in response to a request from the first client,storing video stream data in a memory, and delivering the video streamdata from the server to the first client, in case that a connectionbetween a second client different from the first client and the serverhas not been established, and delivering the video stream data which hasbeen stored in said memory without starting a new connection between thefirst client and the server, in case that the connection between thesecond client and the server has been established.
 8. The methodaccording to claim 7, wherein the memory holds the latest video data asvideo stream data.
 9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the videostream data is obtained by an image pickup apparatus connected to theserver.
 10. The method according to claim 7, wherein a protocol betweensaid relay apparatus and the clients is HTTP.
 11. The method accordingto claim 7, further comprising the step of: converting a first format ofvideo stream data from the server to a second format for the clients.12. A storage medium to store a computer program to execute a relayingmethod to deliver video stream data from a server to clients via anetwork, said computer program comprising the codes of: establishing aconnection between a first client and the server in response to arequest from the first client, storing in a memory, and delivering videostream data from the server to the first client, in case that aconnection between a second client different from the first client andthe server has not been established, and delivering video stream datawhich has been stored in the memory without starting a new connectionbetween the first client and the server, in case that the connectionbetween the second client and the server has been established.
 13. Thestorage medium according to claim 12, wherein the memory holds thelatest video data as video stream data.
 14. The storage medium accordingto claim 12, wherein video stream data is obtained by an image pickupapparatus connected to the server.
 15. The storage medium according toclaim 12, wherein a protocol between said relay apparatus and theclients is HTTP.
 16. The storage medium according to claim 12, furthercomprising the code of: converting a first format of video stream datafrom the server to a second format for the clients.